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Magazine Ad Pages Decline Almost 26% in First Quarter

Magazine advertising pages fell almost 26 percent in the first quarter, according to Publishers Information Bureau data released late Tuesday, signaling a difficult beginning to what is expected to be a dismal advertising year.

Only 15 magazines tracked by the bureau had more ad pages this quarter than they did in the period a year ago. Those included the National Journal, up 42.1 percent to 185 pages, and Fitness, up 28 percent to 199 pages.

In a sign of just how difficult the magazine business is at the moment, the title that posted the second-biggest gain in the report was Hallmark Magazine, up 30.5 percent, to 54 pages. It was shut down in February because of the economy.

The big publishers were hard to find among the advertising leaders. No magazines at either Hachette Filipacchi Media or Hearst Magazines posted gains. Time Inc. had only one, Sports Illustrated Kids, which rose about 30 percent to just under 29 pages. Condé Nast’s only improvement was Golf World, up 0.2 percent, to 283 pages. In addition to Fitness, Meredith added ad pages at Family Circle, up 5.4 percent to 329 pages.

The biggest decline was at U.S. News & World Report, down almost 69 percent, to 72 ad pages, followed by Condé Nast Portfolio, down 60.9 percent (both magazines recently reduced their publishing frequency, however, so although the numbers compare the same time period, they do not compare the same number of issues). Ser Padres, Meredith’s Spanish-language parenting magazine, fell 60.2 percent. Technology Review fell 58.2 percent; Condé Nast’s Wired declined 57.2 percent.

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Sports enthusiast magazines, including Boating, Sporting News, Boating Life, Sport Fishing, Power & Motoryacht and Power Cruising were among the magazines with the biggest drops, all posting declines of about 50 percent. Publishers Information Bureau data is released by the Magazine Publishers of America.

Magazine advertising is expected to decline 11 percent this year, according to figures released early this week from the media firm ZenithOptimedia. Magazines’ share of advertising revenue is expected to fall to 10.9 percent this year, from 11.5 percent last year.